Renaissance herb lore alive and well

A profile of Artemis, which this year turns 20.

Founded by Sandra Clair, one of New Zealand’s most qualified plant-medicine experts, Artemis helps people deal effectively with common health complaints. “I’m a practitioner at heart, so it’s essential that people experience tangible relief,” Sandra says.

Born and raised in Switzerland, where many traditional plant medicines are funded as part of primary health care, Sandra visited New Zealand in 1995. She fell in love with the wild Central Otago landscape and friendly people, and stayed, eventually meeting her husband.

“In 1995 I opened a clinic in Dunedin,” said Sandra, “but didn’t have access to the potent remedies readily available in Switzerland.”

Traditional knowledge handed down

Having earlier funded her studies in medical anthropology and history by moonlighting as a journalist, Sandra was ultimately led to Sister Pauline Felder (1925–2007), a Franciscan nun and well-known traditional medicine expert and midwife in Switzerland. Sister Pauline, already in her sixties when they met, had a wealth of knowledge, and a library of medical text books dating back to 1664, including an almost 500-year-old Materia Medica of traditional European medicine. Sandra says much of the therapeutic information in many of the old medical texts has since been validated by contemporary science and informs modern drug developments.

She undertook a three-year apprenticeship from 1991–93 with the nun, who was generous with her knowledge. Sister Pauline’s training became the unwitting foundation for Artemis, which was named after the Greek goddess of nature, wilderness, the hunt, wild animals, women and fertility. Sandra trained further in health science (herbal medicine) at the University of New England in Australia, and began complementary and alternative medicine research at the University of Canterbury.

In her Dunedin clinic, Sandra looked to Sister Pauline’s recipes and formulated them for her patients. “Eventually word escaped the clinic, and health stores in Dunedin began requesting remedies because local families were benefitting and they wanted access.”

High quality plant medicine

Following three years of clinical trials, Artemis launched a range of remedies in 1998. It included an array of medicinal teas for common ailments, remedial topical creams for arthritis, varicose veins, eczema, and sports injuries; oral liquids ViroGone for the treatment and prevention of viral infections, and Chest Relief, a natural cough medicine.

Sandra is picky about the herbs Artemis uses, and puts great emphasis on the high quality, purity and therapeutic strength of the products.

Although their remedial teas are all certified organic, not all their other products are. That doesn’t mean they aren’t organic. Oral liquids sourced from Europe are the higher of two standards: organic or medicinal. Medicinal grade is also organic and the active compounds are additionally tested and certified under European pharmaceutical regulations with which plant medicines must comply.

Harvesting Central Otago’s wild herbs

The making process passed on by Sister Pauline is ancient. When harvesting wild thyme in Central Otago for their Thyme Lemon Tonic, only flowering plants are gathered, allowing just a tiny window for harvest. Medicinal herbs are most potent when organic and fresh, so they are picked and processed within 24 hours. The combination of Otago’s pure environment, and a climate which obliges hardiness in plants, produces special quality phytochemicals.

One iconic Artemis product, Nerve and Skin Rescue Oil, for shingles, sciatica, and other nerve inflammations, is made with Central Otago St John’s wort and is currently undergoing clinical trials at a Sydney university to validate its efficacy for shingles treatment. Otago St John’s wort was lab-tested in Switzerland and proven to contain double the levels of active compound required to qualify as medicine under Swiss pharmacopeia standards.

Herbs in demand – and at risk

Herbs aren’t always available in the quantities Sandra would like. More St John’s wort and Californian poppy would be welcome.

The areas from which Artemis harvests wild herbs are being encroached upon and urbanised. Sandra would love more white horehound, but the Environmental Protection Authority decided in September to approve the release of two moth species to control the herb, which pastoral farmers view as a weed. If farmers realised white horehound was the most commonly sold medicinal plant in the USA, she says, they might instead cultivate it as a crop.

Production and markets

Artemis recently moved into Dunedin’s trendy warehouse precinct on Vogel Street. Having outgrown their former premises, they found a partner business to manufacture for them. After spending twenty years ensuring her ingredients are right, Sandra insists quality control be executed in-house, so Artemis still does all the procurement, and manages quality control in their own laboratory.

Artemis products are sold New Zealand-wide, and are available internationally via online sales. China and Japan, which especially favour the purity and therapeutic efficacy of Artemis products, are proving strong markets.

Safe, effective natural healthcare

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has a strategy in train (2014–2023) which recommends to regulators and medical communities the integration of traditional plant medicines into health care, particularly in primary health care. New Zealand is a signatory to the WHO strategy but Sandra says we have lagged in taking it up, and that uncertainty surrounds political support for the consumer right to choose safe and effective natural healthcare.

“People want culturally and socially meaningful options,” she says, “and to have the tools to look after themselves at the primary level so they don’t accelerate into crisis where they need secondary or tertiary care.”

In 2016 Sandra was appointed by the Ministry of Health to the interim Technical Expert Advisory Committee for natural health products. She is on the committee of the New Zealand Association of Medical Herbalists, and is currently completing a PhD in health science, looking into the health policy challenges of regulating traditional medicine in a contemporary, evidence-based medicine era.

Her vision for Artemis is for it to become a household brand – a safe, effective family pharmacy in every home.